Dakota Cassidy - The Accidental Werewolf 2 - Something About Harry

When he spoke, it was as though he had to push the words from his lips. “I heard all about your vampires and genies and werewolves and whatever you did to me while I played unconscious. Or rather, what she claims she did to me.” He hitched his jaw at Mara.

Mara opened her mouth to protest, but slammed it shut when she saw the disdain on his face. Oh, Harry was angry. She was fascinated and appalled. She’d never seen him anything other than affable and pleasant.

Harry, delicious and just a sheet away from naked, held up another finger to ensure no one would interrupt. “Scratch that. I know what was done to me. I felt it. Fought it like I was fighting the idea that some don’t believe man evolved from apes, but the truth is the truth. I know what I just experienced. I don’t necessarily understand it, but I just lived through it. You don’t have to convince me of what’s happened to me. I heard it all. I even saw some of it. I saw things I can’t unsee—if that’s even a word.”

Mara shook her head. “Not a word.”

Harry glared at her, leaving her feeling exposed and above all, stupid. “Unhelpful. That is a word.”

“Sorry,” she muttered, looking down at her feet. “I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen. I was just—”

“Baby-making,” he all but accused in Mara’s direction, the veins in his neck popping out with the strain of what she expected was the enormous effort to keep his composure. “I heard that, too. I’m done hearing.”

“Hey!” Nina yelped at him, stomping over the pile of debris, leaving clouds of drywall dust in her wake. She jammed her face in Harry’s. “Don’t be an asshole to her. Aside from what she did—which, if you ask me is totally your fault, you oughta keep better track of your vitaminwater, smart-man. This is a lab. You know, where shit gets tested? For all you know, you coulda been drinking Bigfoot’s piss. So you shoulda looked before you drank.”

Harry’s eyebrow rose. “Sound advice. I’ll take that into consideration and be grateful it wasn’t Chupacabra sperm. Imagine how that would have turned out.”

Nina made a face, cocking her head with that “no you didn’t” tilt to it. “Is that you being cocky with me again, bro? I’ll eat your cocky for lunch.”

“I hope it goes down easier than vitaminwater.”

Nina made that rutting noise she made when she was readying for the kill. “You’re gonna need us whether you like that shit or not. But if you’re a jackass, I’ll dust this place up with you. Turn the volume down on the asshat, genius. That ain’t what’s gonna help you get through this. The world’s a magical, mystical place and all sorts of shit happens that no one can explain and you can’t fix.”

Harry’s eyes gleamed with suspicion, brilliant and shiny-sharp. “How do you know I want to fix anything?”

Nina poked a finger into his thick head of hair. “’Cus I can read your mind.” Then she took those fingers and placed them on either side of her temple like she was part of some act in a circus sideshow. “What I’m hearing right now is: ‘Holy shit, the chick who made a pass at me at the Christmas party, a pass I totally missed, turned me into a werewolf with some kind of baby-making formula, but if you just think , Harry, do your research, you’ll figure out how to reverse this and everything’ll be fine.’ That about right? Like logic and calculus will solve this little problem you have growin’ out of your ass?”

Mara made a whimpering, wheezy noise that whistled from her throat. He remembered. Of all the things to worry about right now, she was worried about how truly slutty she must have looked that night. He remembered the night of the Christmas party. Oh. God.

Harry’s deep, heaving breath was of agitation. It was also divine to watch his bronzed skin ripple with all that muscle beneath it, even as she watched him fight to keep his impatience in check. “I’ve heard every word you said, Nina, but none of it is up for discussion. Now, forgive me, but I need to get home to my niece and nephew and relieve the babysitter. I get the feeling they won’t understand why Uncle Harry’s so late. Due to my new lycanthropic status, that is.”

“The children,” Mara whispered more as a reminder to herself. God. What had she done? There were babies involved.

“Yes. The children. Eight and five. Lost their mother and father a year ago—I’m their guardian, for all the good I do them at this point. They’re lost and out of control, and no matter how much I try to regain control, they run roughshod over me. This,” he ran his hand over his jaw, still quite scruffy, “is only going to add to the kind of trouble we’re already having trying to bond as a unit.”

Mara’s heart clenched for those poor children. She knew what it was like to lose her parents at an early age. But she’d always had Keegan and Sloan. “I’ll help you Harry,” she offered, kicking herself for sounding so pathetically eager-beaver. “With the kids, I mean. Your lycanthropy means you’re now a part of the pack. By extension, so are the children.” Because that doesn’t sound crazy at all, Mara.

Harry’s head shot upward, his gorgeous eyes sharp with sudden clarity. “ Pack . . . So that’s why the company’s called Pack? You’re all werewolves here? Jesus Christ,” he muttered, backing away from them as though he’d just seen a ghost. Thankfully, the one ghost they’d had at Pack had decided to make a choice and take door number two into the afterlife.

Marty was the first to step up to the plate when she saw Mara swallowing hard, her lips unable to move. “Not everyone at Pack is a werewolf. We hire humans, too. Like you, for instance. We’re an equal opportunity employer. We’re careful equal opportunists, but we do have to protect ourselves from harm. Either way, we try to give everyone a fair shot. End of.”

Mara’s pride silently cheered Marty. Pack had insisted humans were allowed to work side-by-side with them, even if they didn’t know they worked with the paranormal. It wasn’t always an easy secret to keep, and there weren’t a lot of humans due to precaution, but they’d pulled it off so far.

However, none of their human employees had unwillingly been turned into werewolves. Harry might openly take exception, and that could mean big trouble for Pack.

Harry was moving now—moving and gathering his shredded clothes, shaking them free of dust and glass. “I know what you’re all thinking. So before you say anything, relax. I won’t tell a soul about you—any of you,” he said pointedly to Nina. “All I ask is that you let me go home—peacefully.”

Wanda was the first to react. She always was, according to Marty. She gathered his glasses up, crumpled and twisted, wrinkling her nose in disapproval. “You know, Harry, the last thing we’re worried about right now is whether you’ll out us. Partially because you’re one of us, and to out us to humans would only bring you big, big trouble, too. Our first priority is you. Helping you. Teaching you.” She gave him her warm, motherly smile, exuding grace and that refined air she was infamous for.

But Harry wasn’t having it. “I’ve been helped a lot today, thanks. I admit I panicked at first, and that’s why I called OOPS. But now that you’ve all explained what this means,” he swept his hand along the length of his body, “I get it. So I’m good for now. You all go back to doing what you do. I’ll go off and do me. Alone. That means without aid.” He gave Nina the warning eyeball before pushing his way past the women, hopping over a clump of drywall, and striding out the door, his sheet trailing behind him, leaving them all stunned.